Ultra-long DNA is a geneticist's dream

DETAILS of a technique for making very long sequences of DNA to order were made freely available last week. To show it works, its inventors synthesised a bacteria-infecting virus, or bacteriophage, from scratch in just two weeks.

The technique could accelerate progress in any field that uses genetic engineering, from vaccine research to agricultural biotechnology. There are also dangers, as the method would make it easier for bioterrorists to recreate dangerous viruses using publicly available sequence information.

But at a press conference last week, the inventors focused on more grandiose possibilities. We might one day be able to design "super-microbes" for cleaning up toxic waste, mopping up carbon dioxide or producing hydrogen fuel, claimed Craig Venter and his colleagues from the Institute for Biological Energy Alternatives in Rockville, Maryland, a non-profit organisation founded by Venter. The work was funded by the US Department of Energy.

Venter thinks creating a living ...

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